"Well, from our side, we'd fight right now, but unfortunately it's not just UP to us. It's UP to the WBA and also Shumenov's team, who seem to be trying to delay or avoid the fight.  I know that right now I'm the #1 mandatory [WBA] challenger, which is something I can hold for about 8 or 9 months, and whatever happens will happen.  We will try to fight Shumenov, but if not, we'll look at other options...To Shumenov, I'd say stop hiding and give me a chance for a rematch and get back what was taken from me in Las Vegas," state light heavyweigh contender Gabriel Campillo as he talked about his recent win over Luzimar Gonzaga and his future plans, namely his strong desire for another clash with WBA light heavyweight champion Beibut Shumenov. Check it out!

BJ: Hi Gabriel. How are you doing?

GC: Good, good; just here resting now.

BJ: In Madrid?

GC: Yes, in Madrid.

BJ: Well, congratulations for your last win, which was by knockout in the first round.

GC: Yeah, in the first round. To be honest, it wasn't the hardest fight.

BJ: Yeah, I was able to see it online.

GC: I would have liked to have boxed more and for the fans to have seen more of me, but if the opponent is gonna go like that, well, what can you do about it?

BJ: Sure. And you must have wanted to work a bit more.

GC: Yeah, to work a bit more and also because it had been a long time since I last fought in front of my hometown fans in Madrid and I would have liked the fight to have been a bit better.

BJ: Of course, of course.  Well, I'd like to speak a little about the fight in January [vs. Beibut Shumenov], that fight which was very controversial.

GC: Yeah (laughing).

BJ: I was just looking at one of the boxing forums and someone commented about that fight, saying it was "the biggest robbery I've ever seen".

GC: Yeah (laughing). I've seen that comment many times myself.

BJ: I gave about 3 rounds to Shumenov.

GC: Yeah, me too.  I mean, trying to be objective about it, perhaps he won 3 rounds, or maximum 4, but no more.

BJ: And that's being generous.

GC: Yeah.

BJ: Well, tell me about the beginning of the fight. He was throwing a lot of punches, but you blocked most of them.

GC: That's right.  As we had already fought once in his country, Kazakhstan, I already knew what his style of boxing was like.  He starts very strong at the beginning, and I think that's a wrong tactic as he wastes a lot of energy that way, so I tried to do it the other way around.  Instead of starting fast, I would warm up a little and I knew that in the later rounds, I'd be pretty strong and that was my strategy at the beginning of the fight.  Work the defense more, block his shots, and when he started to get tired, I'd start to take over.  And that's what we did and from pretty early on, I started to win rounds.  I thought the second round was mine and basically the majority of the rounds were mine, and not by a small margin, but clearly.

BJ: Absolutely. And it was noticeable. By the 5th round, he already looked tired.

GC: Yes, very tired, and I was feeling great at that stage and I felt superior to him for the rest of the fight.  Even though he hit me, he didn't hurt me at any point, despite using all his strength.  I was covering up well and I didn't feel any of his punches.

BJ: And no less than in the 9th round, when you almost took his head off!

GC: Yes!  And what amazed me was that in that round, he didn't go down to the canvas.

BJ: That could have been scored by some as a 10-8 round.

GC: It could have been. Even being a 10-9, it was a big one for me.

BJ: And when they announced the decision, we could see you were laughing a bit, as if you knew they were going to rob you of the win.

GC: That's right. What happened was that when they announced the decision, someone had already told me that I had been robbed, so I already knew.  I wasn't 100% sure, but Sampson Lewkowicz [Campillo's manager] told me that the decision went against us.

BJ: And Sampson Lewkowicz had the same issue in the Sergio Martinez vs. Paul Williams fight, when although that was a much closer fight, one of the judges had it something like 118 to 110 for Williams

GC: Yeah, absolutely.  They are incomprehensible decisions and the truth is it happens all too much in boxing. I think people are getting tired of it now.  People don't want to be taken for fools. It's an insult to the intelligence of the watching public.  In certain fights, you don't even need to be an expert on boxing to know who won.  For example, my fight with Shumenov in January, you don't need to know much about boxing to know who won that fight.

BJ: Sure. It's understandable sometimes in a close fight, but when it's obvious...

GC: (Cutting in) Yeah, it was very clear.

BJ: And now a third fight has been mentioned. Do you think it could happen?

GC: Well, from our side, we'd fight right now, but unfortunately it's not just UP to us. It's UP to the WBA and also Shumenov's team, who seem to be trying to delay or avoid the fight.  I know that right now I'm the #1 mandatory [WBA] challenger, which is something I can hold for about 8 or 9 months, and whatever happens will happen.  We will try to fight Shumenov, but if not, we'll look at other options. We don't hold much hope though.

BJ: It's understandable that you can get disheartened about that situation. Moving on a bit, could you talk a little about the current state of boxing in Spain.  I myself am from England and it's still a very popular sport here, but for example, when I read Marca [Spanish sports paper], I hardly see anything about boxing; only from time to time.

GC: That's right, hardly anything.  Fortunately, I have a couple of friends who work for Marca, and also 1 at AS [another Spanish sports paper] and sometimes they publish stuff about me and my career, but the truth is we're lacking a lot of support.  Here in Spain, boxing is pretty much forgotten about; the written press, the TV, they don't show much interest in it.  There's no TV station here which shows boxing, so basically, we need a bit of help here in Spain on the boxing front, especially with the television.  In the society we live in, television is hugely important and if you're not on it, it practically doesn't exist and that's how boxing is here.  When I won the world title, something which is very important, it was hardly reported on.

BJ: It's a pity, but maybe the situation can change.

GC: I'm hoping so, maybe. There are some good boxers here, capable of fighting for a world title, like myself and [Javier] Castillejo before me.

BJ: Perhaps if more fighters of top quality emerge, there might be more coverage.

GC: That's true, but even so, it's a tough situation.  Another thing is that a lot of people don't like boxing and its not politically correct to talk about it and that is a serious problem. 

BJ: There are people like that here in England too, but as you, know there's a big boxing tradition here. I'd like to talk a bit about the 175-pound division. I think it's becoming one of the most interesting divisions out there, with Pascal and Dawson, and there's Tavoris Cloud, even Hopkins and Johnson, plus yourself and Shumenov.

GC: I think the same as you do, that it's one of the more interesting divisions. It's got some of the big names in it and what I'd love is for us all to fight each other; all the best fighters, especially after the Pascal vs. Dawson fight. First, I'd like a rematch with Shumenov and then I'd like to fight some of the other big names so we can all see who's really the best in the division

BJ: And what would be great would be a Super Six style tournament.

GC: That's true.

BJ: I think they're gonna do that with the Cruiserweights.

GC: It would be something that I'd really love for the light heavyweights.

BJ: And I think your style would cause the others a lot of problems as you're a southpaw, you have a great jab and...

GC: (Cutting in) Yeah, and my defense, which lately, I'm working on a lot and I think I've always had a good defense.  Defense first and then when you get your opportunities, go on the attack.

BJ: It's noticeable that you like to counter attack, right?

GC: Yes, yes. I always work in sparring sessions on that, and work on my defense more than the attack.

BJ: I wondered if you like the style of someone like Winky Wright?

GC: Well, to watch, it's more fun to watch a knockout artist, of course, but it's a very effective style and as I was commenting, it's defensive. You receive less punishment, which is what you want. But maybe it's not as fun to watch for the fans than a fighter who loves to go to war.

BJ: And the most important thing is to win, above all.

GC: Exactly! To win above all.

BJ: Something which fans like to hear about is a boxer's training.  What type of training do you tend to do in between fights? 

GC: Well, it's actually quite similar between fights or when leading up to one. We do 3 sparring sessions per week, every other day, and 2 days a week of pad work. This is all in the afternoon.  In the morning, we do cardio work an d weights, and in the afternoon, the technical work.

BJ: Some boxers say they don't do a lot of weightlifting...

GC: (Cutting in) Sure, they worry that it'll effect their speed.  What we do is something more specific with weights, which focuses on speed and helps with explosiveness, which is vital in boxing.  But I don't lift too heavy as it's true it can slow you a bit.  Aside from that, its tough losing weight.

BJ: Speaking of, I recall the fight between Joe Calzaghe and Jeff Lacy. Lacy looked like a beast, but Calzaghe's speed destroyed him and he won easily.

GC: Yeah, he's very quick and that fight was a boxing lesson!

BJ: Apart from boxing, what other sports do you like?  Football [soccer] is a religion in Spain (laughing).

GC: If it is a religion, then I'm an atheist (laughing) as I'm not really into it.  I prefer motor sports like Formula 1, MotoGP, etc.  It's my second passion after boxing. I love it.

BJ: And Spain has had a lot of success in that field.

GC: Of course, with [Jorge] Lorenzo [MotoGP], no one can beat him!

BJ: It's pretty popular here in England too. Well Gabriel, it's been a pleasure speaking with you.

GC: For me too.

BJ: Do you have a message for the fans, or perhaps for Shumenov?

GC: Sure, I have a couple of messages. To Shumenov, I'd say stop hiding and give me a chance for a rematch and get back what was taken from me in Las Vegas. To all the boxing fans, I'd say thank you for following the sport, thanks for watching on television and for always supporting us and for making us feel that boxing is worth all the hard work.

BJ: Thank you again, Gabriel, and I hope we can speak before or after your next fight.

GC: Absolutely. Just let me know and we can do that.

BJ: Great! Thanks again Gabriel.

GC: Thanks Ben. Goodnight.

[AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'd like to thank Gabriel Campillo for taking the time to talk to us and hope to see him back in the ring soon.]